Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 02 - Dark Carnival (11 page)

Nadia’s screams fading
away in the distance.

My eyelids fluttered,
trying to open.  I was only conscious of cold, wet darkness and a hazy, yellow
glow as my vision alternated between the back of my eyelids and the lamp posts
in the garden.  I gained a little control over my sight, but it was useless
because rain fell into my eyes and stung them.  My whole body shivered
uncontrollably as the winter air stung my wet skin.

She’s so far away.  But
her screams are louder.  “Nadia!”  Why doesn’t she answer me?  “Nadia!”  She’s
coming.  I can hear her footsteps.  She’s running to me now.  “Nadia!”  She’s
getting closer …

I forced my eyes open
again, blinking back the pain in my head, still dizzy.  The footsteps stopped,
and I heard the flapping of great wings as they neared me and—
someone else
is coming.  
I tried to lift my head, but it wouldn’t move.  I could only
stare up at the lamp and the oncoming rain and listen for the footsteps coming
closer and faster, splashing through the wet earth.

In the corner of my eye,
I saw the man flying toward me.  Before he could land on me,
something—someone—knocked him out of the way and they fell on the other side of
me and began to fight.  I gave out a startled yelp and by sheer will, rolled
over onto my stomach and tried to get to my knees.  I couldn’t stand, so I
kneeled in the drenched grass, bent over, holding my head.

Still blinking heavily, I
saw the winged man a few feet from me.  He had Noah pinned to the ground and
his obsidian wings flapped violently back and forth.  Noah snarled, reached up
and ripped off one of his wings, causing the man to roll over in pain.  In half
a second, Noah was on top of him.  He grabbed the man’s head and, with a sharp
twist, snapped his neck, letting the head drop back onto the soggy grass. 

Breathless, Noah got up.  “Where’s
Nadia?” he asked.

I picked up my head,
holding it with both hands, feeling a warm patch of blood on the right side.  Before
I could say anything, he sniffed the air and his eyes got very big.  He
sprinted toward the shadows of the trees near the lagoon.  I shakily got to my
knees and had just steadied myself when I heard Noah scream out in agony.  With
my right hand pressed against my wound, I hurried to him as best I could.

When I reached the thicket
of shadows, I had to give my eyes a second to adjust.  When they did, I forgot
about my wound and cupped both hands to my mouth in shock.  Noah was on his
knees, holding Nadia to him, gently rocking her lifeless body back and forth.  Her
white blouse was almost totally red from the blood seeping out from the gashes
in her flesh.

“My God,” I whispered,
tears already starting in my eyes.

“No!” cried Noah.  He
started to sob, but stopped and looked up at me, angry.  “Fix her!” he ordered.

“I …”  I shook my head,
unsure.

“Heal her!  Hurry!”  He
laid her down on the grass before me.  “Come on!  Hurry!”

“I can’t.  I don’t know—”

“DO IT!” he screamed at
me.  I kneeled down, feeling dizzy again.  I took a deep breath and steadied
myself.  I looked down on her body and didn’t know where to begin; so many
wounds and so much blood.  It looked like the flesh was actually bitten off of
her body in some places and, in others, it looked like it was torn off.

I put two fingers on the
side of her neck, feeling for the artery.  There was barely a pulse left.  Everything
in me wanted to scream at him to take her to a hospital, but I knew she
wouldn’t last that long.  Noah held her hand in his and stroked her forehead
and wiped rain water away from her face with his other hand.

“Come on, Naddie.  Come
on, honey,” he whispered to her.  “I love you Naddie.  Don’t leave me, okay?”  He
stared at her with so much hope that a sick sorrow began to take over me, and I
thought I might break down and sob at any second.

I took another deep
breath and put my hand over her heart.  I closed my eyes and concentrated on
healing her.  I silently asked for help from any entity of Heaven that could
hear me.  I concentrated on seeing a blue flame on my hand, healing Nadia.  I
kept waiting for my hand to get warmer, but it didn’t.  I tried and tried but
nothing happened.  Her pulse grew weaker.  The tears seeped from under my
eyelids because I knew she was leaving us.

Less than a minute later
she was gone.  I opened my eyes, my cheeks now wetter from tears, and I
whispered, “I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry.”

Noah shook his head, not
accepting the situation.  “Keep trying.”

“There’s nothing left.”

“Keep trying!”  He stared
at me with anger and hatred
.

“She’s gone!  I’m sorry.  But
there’s nothing I can do.  I don’t want her to be gone, either, but she’s—”

I stopped short because
Noah started rocking back and forth, shaking, gritting his teeth.  “NO!” he
screamed out into the rain.  “She can’t!  She can’t!  Nadia, come on, honey.  Please.
 Please!  You can’t leave yet.  You can’t, baby.”  He started to sob.  That was
when I realized the boy Nadia spoke of, the one who made her have doubts, the
one whose heart she broke and the only one she ever loved, was Noah.

I felt like an intruder
at that moment.  I had only known Nadia for a few days, and I was devastated
over what just happened.  I knew for Noah it was much, much worse.  I got up
and slowly, shakily, headed back to Nadia’s car, leaving Noah to grieve in
peace.

I stayed clear of the
dead man and his detached wing on the grass and made it to the parking lot.  The
passenger door was still open, and Nadia’s keys were on the ground.  I picked
them up along with the umbrella, got in her car and shut the door.  My body
began to shiver uncontrollably from the freezing rain.  I laid my head back
against the seat and shut my eyes, hating myself for what happened.  A good
woman died tonight, and I couldn’t save her.  I was useless and, because of it,
a life was lost.

I opened my eyes and saw
Noah carrying Nadia’s body to his car on the adjacent side of the parking lot.  I
watched him gently place her in the back seat and then drive off.  I supposed
he was going to Miles for one last desperate attempt to save her.  I hoped he
could, but knew it was impossible.  I took Nadia’s car back to the convent and
then switched with my car.  For a brief moment, I wanted to tell the sisters
what happened, but I wouldn’t know where to begin.  I decided to let Miles
handle it because I was still the outsider.

I went back to Cee Cee’s,
thankful that she was gone when I got there.  I don’t think I had it in me to
talk about what happened.  I cleaned off in the bathroom and checked out my
head.  I probably had a concussion, but didn’t care anymore.  I went to bed and
cried myself to sleep.

When I woke up, a cold
rain was falling outside, and there was a visitor in the shop downstairs.

The tall, slender man glanced nonchalantly at the
shelves, picking up bottles here and there and placing them back without much
interest.  When I saw him, I stopped cold in my tracks, peeking out from the
storeroom.  He was probably around six feet, five inches and looked to be in
his thirties.  He wore a long, black overcoat which was a contrast to his pale
skin.  His hair was shoulder length, platinum blonde, and he had slicked it
back to where just the very tips made ringlets around the collar of his coat.  He
was not unattractive.  There was something beautiful about him, but not in a
sexual way.  He had the kind of beauty of a Renaissance painting.

I studied him for awhile
as he moved on to the front counter, glancing peculiarly at a large jar of
pickled eggs that sold for fifty cents each.  He turned away with a slight huff
and then leaned against the counter with his hands folded.  He seemed to be
waiting for someone.  I scanned the store, but didn’t notice Cee Cee anywhere.  I
didn’t think she would have stayed gone all night.  I supposed it was possible
she just stepped out for a minute, but I couldn’t imagine anyone out in that
cold rain for even a second.  Maybe Miles had called her while I was asleep and
told her what happened.  That brought a fresh guilt over me.

I sighed and stepped into
the front of the store. “Hi,” I said.

The man straightened up
and gave me a friendly smile.  “Hello.”

“If you’re looking for
Cee Cee, she’ll probably be back soon.”

“Who?”

“Cee Cee.  She owns the
shop.”

“Oh,” he replied, looking
a little embarrassed.  “I just stepped in to get out of the rain.”

“I don’t blame you.  I
wouldn’t want to be caught in that, either.”

“So,” he said, gesturing
with his hand, “What kind of store is this?”

“It’s a Voodoo store.”

He nodded his acceptance.
 “Interesting.”  He glanced at the right side of my head and furrowed his
brows.  “Are you all right?”

For a second I didn’t
know what he meant, and then I remembered the wound from last night.  I touched
it and winced from the bruise.  “Yeah.  I’m fine.  Rough night.”

“Apparently so,” he said,
coming closer to me, examining my wound.  He started to put his hand to my
head, but stopped himself.  “May I?” he asked.  “I’m a doctor.”

“Um, okay.”

He gently touched his
fingers to my head.  He studied my eyes.  “You don’t appear to have a
concussion.”

“My eyes were a little
bloodshot last night.”

“You should have gone to
a hospital.”

“It’s okay,” I said,
gently pulling away, but his eyes held mine, and I found it difficult to look
away from his intensely ice blue irises.  “I just had a little loss of
consciousness at first, but my pupils are the same size, and I’m not
experiencing amnesia.”  I wished that last part was true, though.  I’d love to
never remember last night again.

“You know your
concussions.”

“I had a lot of medical
training.”

“Ah.  Nursing?”

“Med school.  I was going
to be a doctor, but …”

“Didn’t quite work out?”

I shook my head.  He
regarded me in a curious way, looking me up and down.  “Do you have a natural
inclination for healing?”

While he awaited my
answer, it suddenly seemed the patter of rain was too loud outside and that the
chilly air was meandering through the cracks in the door.  Yet I still could
not bring myself to look away from his gaze.  I managed a half nod to answer
his question.

“They say those with a
natural gift are predisposed to do God’s work.  Are you?” he continued.

The more I stared into
his eyes, the more it seemed as though the icy irises were moving on their own,
looking like reflecting pools with a slight ripple.  His pupils bore into mine,
and again I nodded in answer to his question.

“Do you ever think how
unfair
it all seems?  You spend your life helping others, and what do you get in
return?  Some kind of reward in the hereafter?  Sometimes, it makes more sense
to reward yourself in the present.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t
know—” I started, beginning to look away from his gaze, but I couldn’t.  There
were only his eyes, his words, the patter of the rain and the chill in the air.
 I was aware of nothing else.

“Sometimes, it is better
to let the lower creatures fend for themselves.  Sometimes, it is more …
humane
that way.  Wouldn’t you agree?”

I wanted to say
no
,
tried to say it, but I felt myself nodding again.  It was starting to make
sense to me; his logic was something I could grasp.  I felt the bitter chill
seeping into my bones.  I began to shiver.  My breath puffed up around me, and
still I could not tear my eyes away from the empty, deathly blue before me.

“I—” I began.  The door
opened then, the tinkling bell jolting me from my intense concentration.  I
turned to the door quickly and then glanced back to the tall man who was in
front of me.  He was gone.  I was dizzy and steadied myself against the front
counter.  Cee Cee, alarmed, rushed to me.

“You okay, my baby?”

I looked up at her and
saw her eyes were red and puffy.  She must have heard about Nadia.  “Yeah,” I
managed.  “Where did you go?”

She did not answer me.  She
instead looked around the room, alarmed.  “Were you here alone?”

I shook my head and
shuddered, still freezing.  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  I can’t keep
my head up.”

“Who was with you?” she
asked, reaching behind the counter while still holding me up with one arm.  She
took out some holy water.

“Some man.  He said his
name was Sam and that he was a doctor,” I said, my words starting to slur.  I
had a sinking feeling, like something was pulling my head down to the ground.  Cee
Cee propped up my head with one hand and, with the other, tipped the bottle of
holy water upside down with her thumb placed over the mouth of the open bottle.
 She put down the holy water and used her thumb to make the sign of the cross
on my forehead.

I felt myself being
gently lowered to the floor, but it felt like the floor wasn’t low enough to
the ground.  I felt I could keep sinking forever, teetering on the edge of
consciousness.  I could faintly hear Cee Cee reciting the Hail Mary prayer.

“Hail Mary, full of
grace, the Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the
fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now
and at the hour of our death.  Amen.”  She repeated this eight times and, each
time, making another cross on my forehead with holy water on her thumb.

I no longer had the
sinking feeling.  I was no longer freezing.  Before long, I could open my eyes
again.  Cee Cee looked down at me, worried.  “Are you okay, my baby?”

“What happened to me?”

She hesitated before
answering.  “You were poisoned.”

“Poisoned?”

“That man who was in here
with you marked your forehead with an upside down cross with belladonna dust.  That’s
deadly nightshade.  It’s a poison.  You gonna be alright now,” she said, but it
sounded like she was trying to convince herself.  “C’mon.  Let’s get upstairs.”

She helped me up the
stairwell and then drew a hot bath for me; she added sea salt, a handful each
of hyssop and rue, and then, lighting two white candles, she held my hand and
recited the fifty-first psalm.  She instructed me to get in the tub, duck my
head once under the water and then rest for about thirty minutes.

The steady, slow drip of
the faucet made me sleepy.  I could feel myself nodding off.  As I started to
drift away, I could faintly hear Cee Cee in the living room, talking to someone
on the phone.  “…don’t think she’s ready.  Maybe … go home … this is all …”  I
strained to hear more, but my eyelids soon fell and in no time, I was asleep.

I found myself staring at
an icy blue reflecting pool.  Before my eyes, the water turned black, mirroring
the dark sky above.  I had never felt so relaxed, so calm, despite the sudden
darkness.

Far away, I saw a figure
running toward me.  I strained my eyes to see who it was.  I couldn’t make out
his face, but I saw him waving his arms, trying to shout something to me, but I
couldn’t hear him.

That’s when I felt the
arms drag me into the reflecting pool.  The water should have been shallow, but
I sank deeper and deeper, barely able to see through the surface.  I tried to
scream, but water filled my lungs.  I tried to swim, but the arms held me back.
 I thrashed and pulled, but they wouldn’t let me go.

I felt the oxygen leaving
my body, panic setting in as I slowly suffocated.  I was able to crane my neck
around to see my captor.  There, behind me, laughing in the depths of the water
was Ruby.

I struggled to break
free, but I grew weaker as my lungs threatened to burst.  I opened my mouth to
scream, but water gushed in.  I opened my eyes, panicked, to see the bathroom
ceiling above me and a partition of water less than an inch above my face.

I felt a pair of arms
struggle to pull me up.  As soon as I broke the surface of the water, I gasped
for breath, but could not find it.  I felt Cee Cee hit me on the back and lean
my body forward to help me get the water out.  I coughed and coughed and at
last the water was mostly gone from my lungs, though I would be coughing for a
few more hours.

“Leigh Leigh!  Are you
okay?”

I nodded, splashing water
in my face, hugging my knees to my chest, and started to cry.  She positioned
herself in front of me.  “It’s okay, chère.  I heard you scream and when I came
in here, you were thrashing around under the water with your eyes closed.  You
go right ahead and cry.  It was scary, but you going to be okay.”

“That’s not why I’m
crying,” I sobbed.  “Nadia …” I couldn’t finish.  I tried to wipe tears from my
eyes, but it did no good with wet hands.

Cee Cee pushed the hair
out of my face.  “I know.  Miles told me what happened.”

“I’m so sorry, Cee Cee.”

“It’s not your fault, my
baby.  There was nothing you could do.  You weren’t ready yet.”

“I should have been ready
to help her.”

I heard her sniffle a
little.  “Not your fault,” she repeated.  “It was the Grigori.  They the ones
that did that to her.”

She grabbed a towel and
helped me out of the tub.  “I’d like you to come to the funeral with me this
evening.”

“Already?  Shouldn’t they
wait a day or so?”

She shook her head.  “The
sisters were the only family Nadia had.  Well, them and us,” she said, looking
sadly at the puddle of water I had splashed onto the floor.  She grabbed
another towel to wipe up the mess while I dried myself off.

“I don’t think I’m up for
the funeral, if you don’t mind.”

She nodded her
understanding but said, “I really would like you to come, if nothing else so
that you’re not alone today.  Remember, it’s not your fault.  No one is blaming
you.”

I agreed to go to the
funeral, but I didn’t believe her when she said no one would blame me.  I
certainly blamed myself, and if the others decided it was my fault, I don’t
think I’d argue with them.

The rain had stopped a
few hours before the mass which ended at sunset.  After mass, a walking
procession ensued toward the cemetery a few blocks away down the wet,
glistening, city street.

They sang a French song,
a haunting melody that told of an afterlife.  Miles and Ruby walked in front of
us, singing along.  I walked with Cee Cee and countless mourners, each carrying
a white candle; hundreds of flickering flames in the early evening, fighting to
illuminate the darkening January sky.  I had not realized the impact Sister
Nadia had on the community.  Most everyone was dressed in black, but all the
nuns wore white; ghostly sisters bidding farewell to one of their own.

I nodded toward the nuns
who were up in front, walking with the casket.  “Why aren’t they wearing
black?” I asked Cee Cee.

“They don’t mourn because
they know there’s no death.  They wear white to celebrate Nadia passing on to
the next life, the real life with the Father.  That why they dressed her in
white, too.”

Our procession led to the
St.
Geneviève
Cemetery a half mile into the city.  We
walked along the southern border of City Park where Nadia was so violently
killed, and I could not tear my eyes away from the growing shadows, sure that
there were creatures lurking there, amused perhaps at the death of a paladin.  The
thought of anything taking pleasure in the death of someone as purely kind as
Nadia made a quick, hot anger rise up inside me.

Just before we reached
the edge of the park, I noticed something was indeed there in the shadows.  My
breath caught in my throat, and I noticed Cee Cee in the corner of my eye.  She
glanced where I was looking and then looked back in front of her, continuing to
sing, unalarmed.

As we got closer, I could
make out the figure from behind one of the live oaks deep in the park, far from
the street where the procession passed.  Noah watched, his jaw clenched, his
eyes pained, as the casket was carried away, never to see Nadia again—not in
this life.  The brief spell of anger that had arisen in me a moment ago was
doused by another wave of guilt.

I kept my eyes on Noah as
we neared the edge of the park.  Soon, I was in his line of sight.  He caught
my gaze, and I wished he hadn’t.  The pain in his eyes quickly flashed to
hatred, and he was gone in less than a second, disappearing further into the
shadows.

Cee Cee put a consoling
arm around me, never breaking chorus.    

At the burial, many
people cried.  Cee Cee was one of them, and I also could not stop a couple of
tears from passing through my lashes.  The sisters, I noticed, did not shed a
single tear, though they did look grief stricken.  Miles did not cry, but I
could see the hurt behind his eyes.  Ruby cried a little.  She never looked at
me, even though Cee Cee and I were directly across from her and Miles.  He
looked at me once, but it was hard to fathom his thoughts, though I did see a
great disappointment behind the sorrow.